Rail and rail stations have a massive role to play in the delivery of the Government’s key missions for the UK – growth and delivering on net zero commitments. Rail’s unique ability to connect people to places, amenities and opportunity in a sustainable way enables it to support both growth and decarbonisation.

Rail stations are well-placed to be the focus of wider investment in housing, local regeneration and the growth of commercial activity. Stations are the natural focus for densification of housing across grey, brown and greenbelt sites, boosting villages and peri-urban and suburban towns where growing populations can sustain high streets and help local business to thrive. 

Reasons for event:

To share best practice and insights about the role of rail and rail stations in supporting government missions, with a particular focus on creating sustained growth. The Department for Transport has outlined its strategic priorities, of which four out of five apply to rail:

• improving performance on the railways and driving forward rail reform
• transforming infrastructure to work for the whole country, promoting social mobility and tackling regional inequality
• delivering greener transport
• better integrating transport networks

“Growth, net zero, opportunity, women and girls’ safety, health – none of these can be realised without transport as a key enabler” – Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh

What's going to be discussed:

The Labour government has promised to “move fast and fix things”. For rail and rail stations, this means bringing rail franchises into public ownership, getting ‘shadow’ Great British Railways up and running, quickly improving the passenger experience and creating new opportunities for large-scale infrastructure investment in towns, cities and regions.